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Some people are dealing with snow, others with rain, others with cold and I’m dealing with yellow pollen dust from the pine trees that surround us.

Leaving in a pine tree area can be very interesting. We wake up with the birds singing in the trees, we can hear the sound of the trees moving when it’s windy, it’s quite peaceful. But the other side of the situation is during Spring when the pine trees produce the yellow pollen that covers everything. I’ve got my windows covered with yellow dust as well as the balcony, the furniture, everything is always covered with the yellow dust.

The yellow pollen from pine trees can be very annoying specially for those suffering from allergies. Some people live terrible days during spring due to it. Of course this is something we have to live with, besides the allergies it doesn’t cause any other serious diseases like Mesothelioma. People with allergies just have to take their meds and hope that Springs ends (no Mesothelioma lawyers needed). For me, I must confess, what annoys me, is having to clean the house almost everyday to get rid of the yellow dust.

Today we had some rain that fortunately kind of washed everything, but let it stop raining and the yellow dust will come back again.

Yellow pollen from the Pine Trees is a post from: Buy Better and Have a Better Life

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Saving money is the reality show of the moment. This new reality that is part of our world now make us do all the efforts to buy cheap, avoid unnecessary products, save energy, gas and water. We have to be prepared for the future, there are houses to pay, cars to be bought, kids need to have a steady future school program and we, the parents, are responsible to make all that we can to provide a good future to our kids and ourselves.

There are several ways to save money. Usually our fist thought is saving a percentage of our monthly but sometimes that’s not possible because the paycheck isn’t enough for the monthly bills, so how we can save when we don’t have enough?

Now here come some measures we can taken:

Start at our own Home

Saving money should be part of our way of life to make it most effective. It is best that the effort to save be shared by everyone in the family, even the younger members of the family.

Little Efforts

I work far away from home and on the way I have to leave my two kids in school so I can’t imagine my life without a car. Walking would be great if we were closer to work and school. Riding the bike would be a healthy alternative but with two kids it’s impossible. Sharing a car with friends and neighbors seems a great opportunity to save a few bucks but again it’s not possible. We all live and work in different parts of the city and there is no middle term.

Avoid the little temptations that may come my way. It is naturally fine to reward myself after a hard work every now and then, but staying away from splurging is the best .

Use Less and Save Energy

Electricity - I’m already used to turn off appliances that are not being used. Turning the Tv off is a little difficult, with so make channels available we always find a great program to watch.  The refrigerator is a struggle for me because the kids tend to open it an stare at the interior trying to decide what they want to eat. Energy saving bulbs are already being used in most rooms. They had an initial investment that I’m sure will be regained very soon. Sometimes they are offered as packages for the whole house and at sale prices.

Water - Avoid long showers – this one is difficult for me, the shower is the only moment I rarely have to relax a little and a few extra minutes are spent under water but I always try to be as fast as I can. My son loves to take a long shower so everyday it is a struggle to get him out of the running water. Don’t leaving the water running when brushing our teeth is something that I already educated my kids to do. We can save a few liters of water if the faucet is off.

Phone – My phone provider has a saving plan where we pay the same amount of money to every other providers. It’s really great. I don’t do long distance calls so I don’t have a special plan for it.

Gas - I have a membership benefits with one station. I usually fill up the tank when the prices go low and use all the advantages from the membership. Not having air conditioning in the car makes me save gas. I usually take advantage of open windows.

Small gestures can make a big difference when choosing to save money and the world.

Save Money and Save the World is a post from: Buy Better and Have a Better Life

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Birthday parties at home we are done for this year. It’s my 40th birthday this year but as usual there will be only a small birthday cake just for the view and that’s it. Insurances will repeat in June, July and September and sometimes I feel I need a POS system to control all these payments.

Vacation will be more a homecation (as usual), I don’t even know if we will have money to go away just for a couple of days.

The truth is I want to go away for at least a week to have a real vacation, but I know we don’t have money for that and having a swimming pool at home and the beach 15 minutes away I can say I’m very fortunate, so no complaining from me. I hope the weather will be great and the wind goes blow another place else.

Regarding the staying on the budget issue, we will keep trying.

Finances: where is the money going is a post from: Buy Better and Have a Better Life

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We have been on this house for almost 9 years and some rooms have never been repainted. The living room had the walls with a lot of mold that cleaning and washing didn’t remove. It was a little difficult to stare at the walls day after day and do nothing.

Winter brings wet walls and mold and therefore the walls shouldn’t be painted, but the sun and warm weather makes that possible. We took advantage of a few shiny and warm days and decided it was time to paint the living room just in time for Catherine’s birthday party on Sunday. So this week, instead of my husband leaving work and pick up the kids at daycare, he went straight home to paint. Besides avoiding to pay a painter, I save some time searching for the the best diet pill for my husband. He really needs to lose some weight and painting is a good exercise for him to lose a few calories.

All rooms have white walls but for a long time we wanted to change something so, he is painting one wall of a different color. I’ve got the “before” photos but only tomorrow I will be able to take the “after” photos. I like the color but I must confess it is a major change. Of course now we need some decoration items to match the color of the wall but money is short so we have to wait to buy them.

The living room has again clean and beautiful walls. I will post photos as soon as possible.

Home Improvement: Painting the living room is a post from: Buy Better and Have a Better Life

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Now that I spend a lot of time online I realize I could spend some of that time taking some sort of degrees or certifications online. It’s easy, I can do it on my free time and I don’t even have to leave home.

Working in an industry where leadership and a wide range of knowledge is needed I think that a Project Management certificate would be great. I checked it online and I found Saint Joseph’s University that has an Online Management Certificate Program. This certificate can be used in several fields like Engineering, construction, computer systems, etc. so it would be perfect for my job and for others I might apply for. With this Project Management certificate give us all the necessary information and skills to make us better professionals.

Enrollment can be done online or by fax and several forms of payment are accepted. For those that have a full time job, a family and house to take care of, taking a degree online is the best choice. I really need to think about this because having no degree really narrows my opportunities.

Getting a degree can help us to have a better life is a post from: Buy Better and Have a Better Life

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I’m doing my physiotherapy treatments every week day, six so far and no improvements to my back pain yet. Last week I started a new medicine for a disease that is not always understandable and that I’m reluctant to speak about it. My life was turning into a miserable life and I really couldn’t stand it anymore, I’ve been there before so I know when I’m on the edge. I’ll write a post about it when I feel more comfortable with it.

I have a lot to post but my ideas are not in order, my head is completely lost when it comes to blogging. So much to write, so much to do and so little time as usual. I tried to-do-lists, a blogging planner,  but as I work, it’s difficult to find a way to keep the lists with me all the time. At home I take it to my room to blog then in the morning I forget it and I go to work without it. It’s tough.

I really need a PDA or a sophisticated cell phone where I can keep all my to-do-things. I’ve got my laptop but it’s not very handy to take in the handbag so I just wished a PDA or a Iphone could cost the same as MP3 players or DVD players so that I could buy one. Meanwhile I guess I have to find an organized way to organize myself.

It all would be much easier if I only use one computer and one desk but having to work in an office does not allow me to have everything in one place without carrying files and notebooks with me.

So, how do you organize yourself? Any ideas of a good method?

I need an organization method. Any ideas? is a post from: Buy Better and Have a Better Life

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This is a Philips Norelco T780 Rechargeable Vacuum Trimmer with steelwave technology. This model is very easy to use, it has a great design giving a sense of comfort while in use. Another idea for a Valentine’s Gift.

Philips Norelco T780 Rechargeable Vacuum Trimmer is a post from: Buy Better and Have a Better Life

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Having a full time job outside the house makes me use the office computer during the day and at night my desktop or my laptop.

I’ve been downloading a lot of free reports about family budget, affiliate marketing, debt strategies several reports from important bloggers about better blogging, so I’ve got those reports scattered all over the place. Some are on my handbag, others are on the laptop bag, some in the living room and others in my bedroom. I try to have them around me so that when I have a little time I can take a look at them but it’s not working.

Another thing that delays my online work is that in the office computer I can’t save my passwords and sites I visit for my own security so each time I want to check my Gmail, my feed reader, reply to some post comments I spend a lot of time with logging in and afterwards logging out and deleting all the private links or cookies that are left in the computer. I also stopped using twitter so often because some of my co-workers and bosses have access to my computer and I don’t want them to sneak pick my stuff or think that I’m neglecting work to use twitter.

I don’t know if there is an easy way to manage this but it’s getting complicated.

Of course blogging is not my main job but I came to a point that I think I should have my own space at home where I can store all the passwords, reports, e-books I have related to blogging. I have a small dressing room connected with my main room and I’m thinking about getting some sort of home office furniture like a desk with a drawer where I can put my laptop and blogging related items.

As we are going through a financial crisis I’m thinking about recycling an old piece of a bar we had in the living room and maybe I can built the desk I want.

What about you that work full time? Do you check your mails and feed reader at work? How do you “hide” it from your bosses? Do you login and out several times during the day?

Do you check your email and feed reader at work? How do you do it? is a post from: Buy Better and Have a Better Life

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Stuffed Pork Sandwich

Ingredients:

• 4 4-ounce boneless pork chops, 1/2 inch thick, trimmed
• 2 thin slices Swiss cheese (1 ounce each), cut in half
• 4 dill pickle sandwich slices
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 4 whole-wheat hamburger buns, toasted
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 4 slices tomato
• 2 romaine lettuce leaves, cut in half

1. Cut each pork chop nearly in half horizontally, stopping short of the opposite side. Open each chop and place between sheets of plastic wrap. Pound with a meat mallet or heavy skillet until flattened to an even thickness, slightly thicker than 1/8 inch.
2. Place a piece of cheese and a pickle slice on one side of each flattened chop. Fold the chop over the filling, closing it like a book. Press the edges firmly together to seal. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the stuffed chops, reduce heat to medium and cook until golden brown and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes per side.
4. To assemble sandwiches, spread the toasted buns with mustard and top each with a pork chop, tomato slice and lettuce.

If you want you can add any other healthy ingredient you like. I grabbed this recipe from Eating Well and I hope you like it.

I’m going to bring you a new recipe once a week, I’ll pick them up on great cooking sites I find on the web and I assure you that they will be always light and healthy recipes.

I wonder if there are any franchises ideas for light and healthy cooking companies. This might be something that a cooking lover would be interested in.

Healthy Recipe: Stuffed Pork Sandwich is a post from: Buy Better and Have a Better Life

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For those looking for hosting service I advise you to take a look at the webhostinggeeks.com site. Why? This site provides information about web hosting awards and ratings meaning you can check who are the best rated web hosting companies as well as the companies that received awards for their service.

Speaking for myself I must say that having a full time job, a house and two kids to take care (not to mention the husband) I want to be assured that my blogs are hosted by a good company so that I don’t have to worry about poor quality service, cpu problems, etc..

So, if you are having problems with your hosting service check the rates at webhostinggeeks,com compare services, quality and prices and choose the one that suits you the best. Don’t forget to take a look at the free domain names with web hosting and take advantage of the promotions.

Following the general idea of this blog having a better life also means being Greener and therefore helps saving the environment. Before deciding on your web hosting company takes a close look at the green web hosting where you can find Eco friendly companies. These companies are taking a major role in improving their daily work in order to be ecological. Some companies are already using alternative energetic sources for their servers without lowering their quality and efficiency has a web hosting company.

2009 is here and how not make the change now. Get out of free hosting and get control of your blogs and sites and remember Green is healthy living.

When choosing your web hosting company check the greener ones first is a post from: Buy Better and Have a Better Life

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